I don't have the exif data on this but it was with a 400d camera, canon 400mm f5.6 lens with either 20 or 32 mm extension tube. This was taken last winter on the north facing mountain slope behind my house. There are lots of mountain chickadees there in the winter but it is impossible to get a shot that is not back or sidelit without shooting up at a steep angle. I mention this as it is best to get between the sun and the bird, but that's often impossible. Anyway, sometimes I like a backlit look. This is a mountain chickadee, and they often form loose flocks with black-capped cousins and nuthatches in the winter. Thanks for looking. Any comments on how I can improve this image would be appreciated. Thanks for looking.
Hi Dave,
What a sweet little bird!
I think that this is lovely, however I find the OOF branch behind the bird distracting - would be tempted to clone it out. HAP should be happy and sharpness looks good. I'm thinking that with a side-lit subject fill-flash would help, or you could try selectively using shadow/highlights when you PP.
Regards,
Nicki
Thanks. It actually is a south-facing slope, I must have had a senior moment. Fill flash would seem to be the answer and I'll have to learn more about it.
Dave, I thought I'd take your image and do a little post-processing to demonstrate how Photoshop can take a good image and make it even better.
The first thing I did was to clone out the two out of focus branches both behind and below the bird. I used a big, soft brush and set the opacity to 50%. I blended an area next to the branches to cover them up using round, soft movements. Then I reset the opacity to 100% and did the same thing to the dark branch in the bottom corner.
Next, I cloned out the row of feathers at the bottom of the bird with the feathers directly above them. I used a small brush just a little bit bigger than the height of the white area and cloned right over them - again at 100%.
Next, I raised up the overall image using the shadows/highlight sliders. This gave the image a little more brightness and "pop." I then opened up the hue/saturation pallette and increased the saturation of only the greens and yellows so the background would really brighten up against the dark colors of the bird.
Finally, I increased the contrast just a bit to help separate the light tones from the darker ones.
All in all, it took about 5 minutes in Photoshop Elements to make the changes. Getting a photograph right in the field is wonderful...for all other images, post processing techniques can make a huge (but subtle) difference! It takes a little time and a little understanding of some of the basics in Photoshop and you can make some really great changes to enhance even a really good image.
One last word: I did this on an uncalibrated computer at work so don't look for perfection here...I simply wanted to use this as a demonstration to show how a few minor changes in post-processing can change the look of an image.
Jules, thanks for including the details of your post-processing. Very, very helpful for a novice like me.
Dave
I like the composition and sharpness of the bird. I am wondering about the overall colors on the bird. This doesn't look like a mountain chickadee that I've seen; I am looking for the some white or gray-white on the breast and more gray on the back?
Gail
I followed Jules' steps pretty closely, then did a color adjustment, particularly lowering the reds quite a bit. I think this looks closer to a Mtn Chickadee but I don't know if it improves the image.:confused:
Gail
Thanks for all the work and selection that went into these comments. Gail, I did not adjust the colors on this bird. If anything altered the appearance maybe it is the automatic wite balance setting. Julie and Gail, thanks much for the repost. I'll post some more mountain chickadees in the future.
Hi Dave,
I like your capture and composition. Julie's repost bring it up a notch. I would also recommend in giving a bit more room to the right for the tail. All in all, you got yourself one fine image...congrats...:cool:
Mountain chickadee
